Google+ has opened itself to include brands as active social participants with the introduction of Google+ Pages on November 7 th.   Google+ may look like Facebook and has introduced some new features, which Facebook quickly copied but it is not a competitive social network per se.   Google+ is a work in progress. It seems to play a middleware role in Google’s overall strategy. Most are strategic issues for Google. Beyond its role in the future vision of the Google landscape, Google+ is a different animal.  monthly users. MORE >>

Of course, if you want more versatility (additional profiles, analytics, etc.), Provides analytics for posts , so you can determine what kind of posts draw the best engagement from your audience, and when you should post to achieve the best reach. Pinterest is not yet integrated , but once the “taste graph” offers an API, that should change. One of the best features of Hootsuite is that you can integrate your Google+ business page. Only a few social media management apps offer any type of Google+ integration, so this is a huge bonus. Hootsuite / Seesmic. MORE >>

Here is an insider’s take on the round of financing we just closed with Salesforce.com, Google, and Sequoia. few examples include Amazon, VMWare, Zappos, Salesforce.com, Google, and even Groupon. The same goes for Google – we consume as much information as we can about the way Google builds products, innovates around culture, etc. We will also open the entire product up into a platform by providing a clean, simple API. Editor's Note: For complete information about HubSpot's Series D funding round, please check out the official press release. MORE >>

Expect future releases and announcements to be based on the idea that cloud platforms must be: Open in their architecture, development language and API’s. Salesforce has been arguing for years that customer service starts by searching Google, asking friends on Facebook, and Tweeting for help on Twitter. new agent console, and enhanced analytics to manage the increased data follow. Google Bookmarks. by Andrew Sinclair | Tweet this. Salesforce Keynotes are quickly becoming legendary for their marketing polish. We’re now in the world of “Cloud 2”. VMforce. Heroku. MORE >>

It’s not much different from what I observed in the late ’90s with Web Analytics. Even Converseon is responding to this need by offering an API that anyone can hook up to for adding insights to their data. Now, the truth is that what the API does is based on lots of human analysis, but just like Google’s link analysis algorithm, if you can respond quickly enough, no one cares how long it took to codify that human knowledge. Photo credit: Wikipedia. The other day, I posted about choosing the right social media listening tool for the right job. MORE >>